Our Blog
Interested in Subscribing to our blog?
BY Brock Dudley
Investing in Times of Uncertainty: Conference Preview
Hello, everyone! We’re a week and a half away from kicking off our August 2024 Career Conference. Time moves quickly. We just wrapped up the follow-up process a couple of weeks ago for the June 2024 Career Conference and have been working hard in preparation for the August Conference. We have a great group of junior military officers ready to take the next steps toward launching their business careers!
Before I jump in to provide you with a sampling of positions and industries that are being represented at the August 2024 Career Conference, I wanted to take a minute to talk about the economy. Why? Well, if you’ve been reading the Wall Street Journal, or keeping up with the Stock Market the last couple of days, there’s certainly a lot happening, and you may be thinking: How does this affect my transition? My goal is one simple message. Let’s dive in.
Economic Update
Last week, we received the jobs report. In July, the U.S. economy added just 114,000 jobs. The unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped 0.2% to 4.3%, the highest level since October 2021. The unemployment rate has now risen 0.9% from the low in January 2023, an increase that has never occurred without a recession. The increase in the unemployment rate also officially triggers the Sahm Rule, which is a measure used by the U.S. Federal Reserve to determine when an economy has entered a recession. The rule states that a recession is imminent if the 3-month average of the unemployment rate rises more than 0.5% above the lowest level of the 3-month average over the last 12 months.
So, are we in a recession? I’m not sure.
So, what does this mean?
It was certainly a tough labor report to receive last Friday, and Monday’s market was all over the place. We’ve been seeing this softness all year in white-collar labor markets, and it seems that the rest of the labor markets are slowing down at the same rate.
Despite this, junior military officers at the June 2024 Conference averaged just under 12 interviews over with A-Tier, industry-leading companies. In the height of COVID-19, we never canceled a conference, and Officers averaged over 8 interviews. While this is not COVID-19, my intent is one simple message, and I hope that readers walk away with this one key takeaway: Companies will always be investing in times of uncertainty.
Companies will always continue to invest in future leaders of their companies.
A major concern that executives in Corporate America consistently face is ensuring that their leadership bench at the Director and Vice President level is full of talent. Like the military, companies must be deliberate and diligent about managing their “supply chain of talent” and executives are constantly looking 5 to 10 years into the future to ensure that their leadership bench is robust. This is what Corporate America calls “Succession Planning” – the strategic process by which companies manage and evaluate talent within their ranks. This is where junior military officers bring a tremendous amount of value to Corporate America.
At Cameron-Brooks, we know at least one thing from our 50+ years of experience: Nobody can project the future. Without knowing the future for certain, we do have a track record of helping military officers manage their careers and make a successful transition at Cameron-Brooks.
For junior military officers making a transition in times like these, the bar is high. With that, mindset matters. Having a good plan in place matters. Preparation matters. Seeking out expert advice matters. Diversifying your strategy and portfolio matters (i.e. career fields, industries, locations, etc.) matters. Avoiding 2-Chapter thinking matters. The idea of career investment matters. The story of your career novel is more than 2-chapters. It’s much more than 5-8 years in the military, business and the end.
The JMO transition starts with getting off active duty and ends with a strong JMO transitioning from being a leader in the service TO being a leader in business and part of a company’s succession planning process. It’s laying the foundational work.
If one desires to be a future leader, one needs to not only get out of the service but lay the foundational work to become part of succession planning for future leadership roles in a company/industry. And never forget, it’s COMPETITIVE. There are lots of sharp young business leaders who are trying for the same upward path.
But there are no guarantees in the private sector. This is earned in challenging leadership assignments, and the first 4-5 years are formative for sure.
Want to know more about succession planning? I recommend Episode 116 and Episode 118 of the Cameron-Brooks podcast with my colleague Pete Van Epps and our CEO, Chuck Alvarez. I think Chuck and Pete have a great conversation on this exact topic where Chuck discusses Succession Planning and helps define the “Transition” for JMOs with business aspirations.
If you’re a junior military officer considering making a transition, don’t hesitate to reach out to me below. We can talk more about how and why companies will always be investing in times of uncertainty. If you don’t even want to get on the phone right away, send me an email and I’ll send some resources your way. If you want to talk about a specific topic, industry, location, or just simple career transition advice, we can do that too.
Now, for a sampling of what’s in store for our August Candidates below:
Sample Industries Include:
Robotics; Energy; Nanotechnology; Medical Devices; Heavy Machinery; Consumer Goods; Healthcare/Clinical; Professional Services; Chemical; Communications; Building Materials; Construction; Specialty Vehicles; Transportation; Packaging and many more.
Sample Positions Include:
Senior Financial Analyst; Senior Control Systems Engineer; Electrical Engineer; Application Engineer; Area Service Manager; Manufacturing Manager; Marketing Manager; Account Manager; Territory Manager; Project Manager; Regional Director of Operations; Six Sigma Black Belt; Area Sales Manager; Business Analyst/Project Manager; Fast Track Associate Sales Representative; Clinical Territory Associate; Plant Engineer; Branch Manager; Operations Manager; Application Sales Engineer; Manager, Logistics and Supply Chain; Presale Engineer; Senior Account Manager; Production Supervisor; General Manager; and many more.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to discuss your options. Cameron-Brooks has a 50-year track record of doing this.
Stay tuned for our Post-August 2024 Career Conference review! I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.
Brock Dudley
Principal, Transition Coach
